The Far Future Rearview Mirror Discussion About BLM, Energy Sources, Crime, Luddites, Science Dismissal Attempts

"Officer Ollie Takes Over" by Herr D, heromachine. Herr D said this is loosely based on true events, about one of his hometown's finest. Shelob notes distracted driving in the story below.

I look forward to the day when this becomes possible anywhere in America:

[imported from Word document, carefully and frequently edited over 24 hours]

Robbie looked up from his screen, seeing a faded poster in a museum window. "Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"All lives matter, right?"

Daddy's eyes darted to the fast food wrapper in the trash. "All HUMAN lives matter, Robbie. Why?"

"I saw something. Can we go back?"

Daddy blinked. "Not--right now. Where do you want to go?"

"I think it was a museum."

"What did you see?"

"It was a meme, Daddy. It said 'Black Lives Matter.' The middle word was white but the other two were black."

Daddy looked confused. He frowned. "Type it into your screen for later, Robbie. We'll Google it later for your history credit. I don't know WHAT that means."

"Could it have been about race wars? We learned that that happened in school."

Daddy raised his eyebrows. "That was a barbaric time, Robbie. People became smart enough to be panracial, like Jimmy's mom is pansexual? To care about a person's insides more than their outsides?"

"Is pansexual smarter?"

Daddy laughed. "No. People love who they love. But hatred should always be about bad things, like violent criminal behavior or corruption. Not something mean, like what people look like."

"Like those people in that show who were stealing?"

"Yes. The Depression was a bad part of history too. Have you typed it in?"

"Yes. What else could it be?"

Daddy thought a moment. "I'm not sure. Remember monograms? From your grandfather's watch?"

"The out of order stuff. What would 'Black Matter Lives' mean?"

"Some people thought dark matter might be alive and said we shouldn't use it as a power source."

"ALIVE?!"

"It isn't, Robbie. But some people didn't believe scientists."

"Did lots of people in history need puh-sike-oh-there-up-ee?"

Daddy smiled. "It's pronounced psychotherapy. And I think so. It does seem crazy, doesn't it? That people hated each other for skin color; ran things so badly that people had to steal to live; that people wouldn't believe scientists, who spent their whole careers trying to learn more truth?"

"Very crazy. We're lucky to live today."

Daddy smiled again. "Yes we are."